JULIE ELLIOTT: The Tories do not care about the North East

The Budget does nothing for the people of Sunderland. It was more of a pitch to be the next Tory leader than anything that would deliver for our city.

The Chancellor cut regulations for banks and offered favourable rates on taxes for multinationals at a time when local authorities are suffering astronomical cuts.

Sunderland City Council will receive £323 million less in 2020 compared with 2010 – a cut of around 41%.

He announced a reduction in Capital Gains Tax to 20% and Corporation Tax to 17% by 2020 – a boon for the wealthiest in society – while taking away £4.5bn from disabled people over five years.

The Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith MP, claimed this week that the cut in funding of up to £150 a week for PIP claimants will “improve the lot” of disabled people. This says everything about this Government’s moral compass.

The Chancellor also failed to address transport issues in our region. Many constituents have contacted me recently about the Tyne and Wear Metro system, yet Osborne neglected the opportunity to invest in our region’s infrastructure.

Instead, he threw money at Crossrail 2 in London and £60 million to develop plans for HS3 between Leeds and Manchester. This Government simply do not care about the North East.

The move to make all schools academies will do nothing to drive up standards in our schools.

It will do nothing to address the real problem of the massive shortage of teachers. Our schools need strong leaders, excellent teachers and a period of stability – this budget will not deliver this.

The money that the Government has spent on this vanity project of making all schools academies would be better spent on investing in more teachers and improving standards.